This morning the Census Bureau has released the ” Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design ” report for Q4 2009. Monthly housing starts (even single family starts) cannot be compared directly to new home sales, because the monthly … Read More

From Treasury: Administration Releases January Loan Modification Report Click on graph for larger image in new window. Just over 116,000 modifications are now permanent. Here is the link at Treasury. See here for a list of reports . If there … Read More

In the most recent FOMC statement, the Fed removed all references to residential housing. This was in recognition that the housing sector is not as strong as it appeared in November or December. This makes the FOMC Minutes a little … Read More

Click on graph for larger image in new window. Total housing starts were at 574 thousand (SAAR) in November, up 8.9% from the revised October rate, and up from the all time record low in April of 479 thousand (the … Read More

On Friday I posted a graph showing the historical relationship between housing starts and the unemployment rate (repeated as the 2nd graph below). The graph shows that housing leads the economy both into and out of recessions, and the unemployment … Read More

“There’s no hard and fast number, but … I have in mind something like $300 Billion, you could do quite a lot that’s actually targeted on jobs.” Professor Paul Krugman, Nov 12, 2009 In the following interview, with Alison van … Read More

Click on graph for larger image in new window. Total housing starts were at 590 thousand (SAAR) in September, up 0.5% from the revised August rate, and up sharply from the all time record low in April of 479 thousand … Read More

From the National Retail Federation: Economy to Impact Two-Thirds of Families this Holiday Season, According to NRF Survey Retailers are about to embark on the holiday season of the serious bargain hunter. According to NRF’s 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and … Read More

Click on graph for larger image in new window. Total housing starts were at 598 thousand (SAAR) in August, up 1.5% from the revised July rate, and up sharply from the all time record low in April of 479 thousand … Read More

The Census Bureau has released the ” Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design ” report for Q2 2009 a few days ago. Monthly housing starts (even single family starts) cannot be compared directly to new home sales, because … Read More